Right from the days of the end of post war boom, when the frantic search for new markets were on, a plot was hatched to place locally bred but globally trained Econocrats all around the world by the three economic terrorist organisations IMF, WB & WTO. It was very much true in the case of South Asia, particularly India which had a special complication due to its proximity to the Soviet Union, though Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi & P.V. Narasimha Rao were giving the right signals favouring neo-liberalism, they had to buy their time.
More ever the plot hatchers were busy with Latin America during that time and countries like India were on the back burner. It was only in the 1990’s the Indian state came out of the closet to announce its real orientation and sleep happily with a ‘live-in’ relationship with the market driven neo-liberalism. Never mind their wedding wow with “SOCIALISTIC PATTERN” of society inscribed in the constitution, which is nothing but a beautifully embroidered ‘door-mat’ through which new East India Companies can walk in to do grand business.
In this plot the services of Late.V.P.Singh, Mr. Manmohan Singh and Chidambaram are very much acknowledged by the IMF, World Bank and WTO, but their darling associate is none other than Montek Singh Ahulwalia, who is the economic hit man of India.
Jagadish G Chandra
How the “Economic Hit Men (EHMs) Operate?
“They are highly paid professionals who cheat countries around
the globe out of trillions of dollars. They funnel money from the World Bank, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and other foreign “aid” organizations into the coffers of huge corporations and the pockets of a few wealthy families who control the planet’s natural resources. Their tools include fraudulent financial reports, rigged elections, payoffs, extortion, sex, and murder. They play a game as old as empire, but one that has taken on new and terrifying dimensions during this time of globalization. I should know; I was an EHM…. We EHMs are crafty; we learned from history. Today we do not carry swords. We do not wear armor or clothes that set us apart. In countries like Ecuador, Nigeria, and Indonesia, we dress like local schoolteachers and shop owners. In Washington and Paris, we look like government bureaucrats and banker. We appear humble, normal. We visit project sites and stroll through impoverished villages. We profess altruism, talk with local papers about the wonderful humanitarian things we are doing. We cover the conference tables of government committees with our spreadsheets and financial projections and we lecture at the Harvard Business School about the miracles of macroeconomics. We are on the record, in the open. Or so we portray ourselves and so are we accepted. It is how the system works. We seldom resort to anything illegal because the system itself is built on subterfuge, and the system is by definition legitimate.” (JOHN PERKINS – Confessions of an Economic Hit Man, Berrett-Koehler Publishers, 2004)
Know your economic-expert Montek Singh Ahluwalia
1968-71 Economist, The World Bank, Washington, D.C.1971-72 Dy. Division Chief, Public Finance Division, The World Bank1972-79 Chief, Income Distribution Division, Development Research Centre, The World Bank, W.D.CHe was inducted during the weakest phase of Indian parliamentary democracy – during Charan Singh’s Government.1979-85 Economic Advisor, Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance, (Prime Ministers – Charan Singh, Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi)1985-88 Additional Secretary to Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.01.09.88 to 13.12.90 Special Secy to PM Rajiv Gandhi and V P Singh.1990-91 Commerce Secretary (PM – Chandra Shekhar)1991-1993 Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance (PM – P V Narasimha Rao)1993-1998 Finance Secretary, Ministry of Finance (PM – H D DeveGowda, I K Gujral)1998-2001 – Member, Planning Commission & Member, Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister. (PM – A B Vajpayee)2001-2004 Director, Independent Evaluation Office, International Monetary Fund, Washington D.C. Since 04.07.2004 as Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission (PM – Manmohan Singh)
Noted Journalist Prafull Bidwai on Ahluwalia
“A glaring instance of cronyism today is the appropriation of vast powers by planning commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia, a quintessential World Bank-IMF crony. The commission has never been more powerful than it is today – ironically, under the sway of anti-planning free-market policies. Ahluwalia decides everything — whether the Northeast will develop or not, how many districts the National Rural Employment Guarantee will cover (without adequate funding), and whether primary schools will run.”
Praful Bidwai, “India’s crony capitalist model” (The News International, May 12, 2007)
Source: Samkaleen Teesri Duniya (Sept.2010)